Water, Earth, Fire, Air
by Astranamay
Summary: Waking up in a strange world, Ruby must find her teammates, and find a way home, with some help from a couple of friendly strangers along the way
1. Chapter 1

"Water, earth, fire, air. Does anybody know what these are?"

A hand shoots up from the back of the class in response. "The four basic forms of dust" A girl answers quickly

"Very good Miss Schnee. Yes it is from combinations of these four forms that we create all other types of dust" The professor states. "Long ago people believed them to be the building blocks of our world. While that may have been incorrect in the literal sense, it is not without basis."

Weiss allows herself a smile, if anyone knew the answer to that question, it was obviously her. She was the heiress to the Schnee Dust Company of course. A hand flies up next to her face, offering a high five for the correctly answered question. Weiss didn't even have to turn her head to know it belonged to Ruby, her hooded leader and teammate. After a few seconds of waiting with her hand there, Ruby begins to lower it dejectedly, letting out a disappointed little "oh." Sighing, Weiss extends her hand towards Ruby, which is met quickly with a _SMACK_ as Ruby's smile grows from ear to ear "My BFF!" Ruby whisper-shouts.

"No." Weiss answers with a glare, though it was an empty gesture, the two were best friends, there was no denying it.

On the other side of Ruby sat the other half of team RWBY, Blake and Yang. Blake sat quietly, taking notes. Meanwhile Yang slouched back in the chair, not so subtly using her scroll. She pauses her texting every few seconds to toss a few cheesy fish-shaped crackers into her mouth. Blake glances at her and opens her mouth, earning a soft chuckle from Yang and a few of the crackers tossed her way as well.

This continues on for the rest of class, Weiss and Blake writing down notes that Ruby and Yang would no doubt mooch off of later. Before long the bell rang and the class began to file out of the room. As Blake and Yang make their exit, Weiss stops only to wake Ruby up, and the four girls leave together.

The team returns to their dorm, exhausted after the day of classes. Despite the fact that they all knew they had homework to do, none of them are able to keep their eyes open for very long, each collapsing into their beds within a matter of minutes.

/\/\/\/\/\

Ruby wakes up slowly, covered in a cold sweat as the wind chills her to the bone. She blinks her eyes, trying to adjust to the darkness. It was freezing, did Weiss leave the window open open or something?

Something wasn't right. As Ruby shoots upright that becomes increasingly clear. First of all she was outside, secondly she was in her combat outfit with Crescent Rose strapped to her back. And finally... she had no idea where she freaking was!

"Ok Ruby, don't panic, don't panic" She says to herself a few times, trying to make sense of her surroundings. She was on a beach somewhere, thankfully there were no Grimm in sight, but that could change at any moment. "Yaaaaang?!" She shouts, praying for a response "Blake?! Weiss?! Anyone?!" she calls out, before resigning slightly. She looks around, spotting a cave a little ways down the coast, with what looked like a fire flickering inside. Taking a deep breath she pulls Crescent Rose from its resting place on her back and cautiously approacges the cave.

She was only a few feet from the entrance now. A cold wind hits her back, but before she can reach back to adjust her cloak, she hears a young man's voice. "Hi! Who're you?"

Ruby whips around, Crescent Rose leveling straight at the boys face.

"Whoah whoah!" The boy exclaims, reflexively raising his arms as a pillar of earth shoots out of the ground and knocks the compact scythe out of the girl's hands.

Ruby assumes as best a fighting stance as she could, cursing the fact she didn't pay more attention when training with Yang.

The boy twists his foot, and Ruby finds herself quickly sinking into the sand and unable to move as it solidifies to stone around her.

Hearing the commotion, the boy's friends run out of the cave, and Ruby soon finds a club, a spear of ice, and a giant boulder all looming over her.

With her eyes finally adjusting to the dark, Ruby looks around and is able to get a decent view of her assailants. The first boy was short, no older than 13, with a head of short black hair and a headband around his forehead. Then there was a small girl who seemed even younger than the boy, but who seemed to barely contain a ridiculous amount of strength in her tiny body. The way the small girl's arms were positioned, she seemed to be holding the boulder that was hovering above her head. Then there were two older kids, who both seemed to be around Ruby's age. A boy with a ponytail and a club in his hand and a girl with long, flowing hair who seemed to be suspending the spear of ice.

"Who sent you?" The older boy demands.

"Wh-what? Why would anyone have sent me? Who are you people?" Ruby flounders

"This is why I said school was a bad idea! Someone must have followed you!" He shouts at the younger boy, who sheepishly rubs his neck and offers no response.

Seeing the obvious fear and confusion on Ruby's face, the older girl sighs. "Sokka, I don't think she found us on purpose. Look at her"

The older boy, who must be Sokka, takes a break from his shouting to actually look the **very** panicked Ruby in the eyes.

Stepping in, the younger boy sits down so he's as close to eye-to-eye with the sunken and trapped Ruby as possible. "What's your name?" He asks calmly

"Ruby. Ruby Rose." She answers nervously. The boy looks to the smaller girl who simply nods in response.

"Are you Fire Nation?" Sokka asks

"Uh... what's that?" Ruby asks in response. She glances around nervously, hoping that wasn't the wrong answer.

"What do you mean wh-" Sokka starts to reply, only to be stopped by the small girl

"She's being sincere, but I can tell she's disoriented, heart's beating like crazy, eyes moving so fast and so often I can feel the vibrations from here." She says

"Aang, maybe we should pull her up, I doubt she can give us any real information like this" The older girl suggests.

"Seriously Katara?" Sokka asks incredulously.

"She's right" The boy, Aang, replies "Pull her up Toph, I don't trust my earthbending enough to not crush her by accident"

"No crushing please" Ruby squeaks

The small girl, who must be Toph, lets the boulder drop behind Ruby before pulling her out of the ground with a single stomp.

Katara rushes to her side and offers her a hand "You said your name was Ruby right? Where are you from?"

"I'm from Vale" She answers, eyeing Crescent Rose, but not daring reaching for it. Instead she takes Katara's hand and pulls herself up.

"Where is that? The Earth Kingdom? You said you weren't Fire Nation"

"No no, the **Kingdom** of Vale. I mean I guess im technically from Beacon Academy, but thats right outside the main city of Vale, and I grew up on the island of Patch, but thats right off the coast and wait what's the Earth Kingdom anyway?" Ruby rambles before finally arriving at a question

Sokka sighs and pulls a map from his bag. "Just point" He says, laying it on the ground

"Uh... what kind of map is this? All the continents are in the wrong shape" Ruby asks, puzzled. She looks up at everyone and finally notices the moon on the sky "Wha-what happened to the moon?"

"What do you mean? The moon is fine don't try to change the subject" Sokka replies, clearly annoyed

"Why is it in one piece?" Ruby clarifies

After a moment Aang pipes up, "Ruby, I think you might not be from around here"


	2. Chapter 2

I don't own anything, yadda yadda yadda

/\/\/\/\/\

"I'm starting to think you might be right" Ruby agrees after studying the map for a few moments, looking up at the moon every so often

Sokka glances around warily, they were being so unbelievably reckless now. Showing their bending around an outsider, letting her know their names, and doing it all out in the open no less. "Maybe we should get inside the cave" He suggests

"Thats a good idea" Ruby agrees, reaching over to pick up her scythe "Don't want to attract Grimm after all"

However her second comment goes unheard as Sokka snatches up Crescent Rose before she can grab it. "What is this? Some kind of weapon?" He asks, turning it over in his hands as he clearly struggles with the weight of the folded scythe.

"Well duh, of course it is" Ruby says with a chuckle. "I mean I **am** a huntress after all"

"Aha! I knew you were a bounty hunter!" Sokka shouts, pointing a finger at Ruby and nearly dropping the scythe

"What?!" Ruby gasps "No I'm a huntress! Not some thug. You know, slayer of Grimm, protector of humanity?"

"Uh... what in the world is a Grimm?" Aang asks

"Yeah... you used that word earlier" Katara adds

"Soulless monsters, attracted by negativity, live only to kill people? Ya know, Grimm?" Ruby explains with an eyebrow raised

"Lady, either your crazy and really believe this, or you're an excellent liar." Toph says "Though, like Aang said... you don't seem to be from around here."

"Sokka, why don't you give her back her... thingy. Then we can all go and talk inside the cave" Aang suggests. The girl seemed confused, but not outwardly hostile.

Eyeing her warily, Sokka eventually hands over Crescent Rose into Ruby's open arms, his jaw dropping as she easily takes it with one hand, when he was struggling to hold it in two.

The group makes their way inside the cave, however while the majority of the group seemed trusting enough of Ruby, Sokka didn't take his eyes off of her for a second. Once inside, Katara gestures to the makeshift seat that Toph had earthbent out of the floor when they had first arrived. Ruby wastes no time in slumping down onto it, the exhaustion and stress of the situation finally catching up with her. Katara takes a seat next to her as Toph allows herself to faceplant comfortably into the hard ground. Aang takes a seat on the ground, crossing his legs and sparing a glance to Sokka, who looked like he was gonna pop a blood vessel.

"Sokka, why don't you take a seat?" Aang suggests, though the older boy only listens to him after receiving a **very** stern look from Katara.

"Now Ruby," Katara says calmly "Why don't you explain whatever you can?"

"Alllright," Ruby says, taking a deep breath. "My name is Ruby Rose, I'm 15, and I'm a student at Beacon Academy." After the name of her school fails to elicit any sort of recognition from the group she sighs and continues. "My world, Remnant, is plagued by creatures called Grimm. They're soulless monsters, who's only purpose is to kill. Because of this, most of humanity lives within the four kingdoms: Atlas, Mistral, Vacuo and Vale. Each kingdom has it's own Huntsman Academy. I'm from Vale, and go to Beacon Academy with my team." She explains "I'm the leader of team RWBY, its an acronym of our names: Ruby, thats me, Weiss, Blake, and Yang, thats my sister. The academies train us to be huntsmen, warriors devoted to keeping people safe."

Before saying anything, Aang looks to Toph for confirmation. "She's telling the truth" Toph says simply, giving a shrug.

"So, you're a good guy then" Aang says with a smile "Do you know how you got here?" He asks

"Wellllll" The girl replies "That'd be a no. Last thing I remember is falling asleep in my dorm." Her brow furrows for a second before she opens her mouth again. "So uh... what's your deal?" She asks

"I'm the Avatar" Aang says simply, earning an incredulous look from Sokka and an absolutely blank one from Ruby. "I'm the only person who can bend all four elements, the bridge between the physical world and the spirit world. Its my job to restore order to the world. We have four nations as well. Or at least... we did. The air nomads are gone, wiped out" Aang explains, struggling for a second to keep his emotions under check.

"Water, earth, fire, air," Katara explains, "Long ago, the four nations lived together in harmony. Then, everything changed when the fire nation attacked. Only the Avatar, master of all four elements, could stop them, but when the world needed him most, he vanished. A hundred years passed and my brother and I discovered the new Avatar, an airbender named Aang."

"That'd be me" Aang says sheepishly. "I sorta got stuck in an iceberg and frozen for a hundred years."

"That makes sense I guess" Ruby says "But what do you mean master of all fpur elements? I mean I get that dust can be a little tricky, but you guys seem pretty good with it, I don't even see where you're keeping it. How hard is it to just practice with a new type?"

"Uh... what's dust?" Katara asks

"Ya know, Dust. Elemental crystals and powder? Can be used be anyone with an aura or refined for use in weapons or machinery, or combined to make more powerful types. Water, earth, fire, and air, the four core dust types" Ruby asks as if it were obvious.

"That was just out bending, it doesn't need any fancy crystals" Aang says, twisting his wrist and creating a small gust of air to show.

"Weird. Thats not your semblance or anything?"

"Whats a semblance?" Sokka asks, finally showing a sliver of interest outside of his sheer suspicion.

"Oh boy. This is gonna be a long night isnt it?" Ruby groans


	3. Chapter 3

**You know the drill, I don't own anything**

/\/\/\/\/\/\

After. very long night of explanations, the young heros finally decide that rest is a necessity. So naturally, as Ruby laid down on the sleeping bag Katara had so generously lent her for the night, she was anything but ready to rest. Her mind raced, both with worry of where she was and how she would get home, but something even larger than that. A primal fear, an anxiety. The concept of war. Although she knew that the Great War of Remnant had only ended some eighty years ago, the idea of people seeking that kind of destruction was utterly taboo to her. She knew that this world didn't have the Grimm to be concerned with, but that sheer waste of human life could not be excused.

It made her blood boil. It made her stomach turn. It streaked her cheeks with tears she was powerless to stop.

She was a huntress, there was nothing in the world more precious to her than the preservation of life. This so-called Fire Nation had treated something as beautiful as life as worthless as garbage. It wasn't ok.

So as she cried herself to sleep with tears both for herself, lost and confused, and for those who'd died in this disgusting war, she knew one thing: For as long as she was here, these new friends would be able to rely on her to do whatever she could to end this war.

/\/\/\/\/\

Their cave opened to the east, so as the sun rose over the sea, their beachfront cavern was filled with light, ushering in a new day, and waking its inhabitants. Well, some of them anyway.

Katara was the first to wake, stretching her limbs with a yawn as she glanced around, taking stock of the situation. Sokka and Toph were both still out cold, though that didn't surprise her one bit. Katara smiles as her glance falls on Aang, who was starting to rouse himself. And finally, she turns to where Ruby had slept the night before, only to find the sleeping bag empty. Concerned, Katara shoots up, looking around for the silver eyed girl. She spots a trail of footprints in the samd at the mouth of the cave, and follows them out in a hurry.

There she finds Ruby, sitting cross-legged in the sand, staring out to the ocean.

"Ruby? Are you o-" Her words are cut off as the young huntress starts the speech she'd been preparing in her head the whole night.

"I know that this war isn't my fight. I know that this isn't my world, and that I don't belong here, but I will do whatever I can to end it. I'm a huntress, its our job to protect people who can't protect themselves, even if that isn't from Grimm, even if it isn't where you're supposed to be. So it is my fight, and I do belong here, because I am a huntress, and theres people to save." The girl takes a deep breath, "So what I'm trying to say is, you can count on me."

A smile spreads across Katara's face as she kneels down next to Ruby and wraps her in a hug "I think the spirits brought you here for a reason" She says with a smile. "Now come inside, we have a lot to talk about"

By the time the two girls make their way inside, the other members of the Aang Gang were already up and at 'em, doing their morning routines as usual. Sokka had retreated behind Appa to get dressed and groom a bit, while Toph sat on the earth bench and much to her dismay, bent all the stray dirt and earth off of her skin and clothing, all because she had to 'blend in'. Aang was sat on Appa's saddle, nearly reaching for his razor before sighing in resignation, knowing he had to keep his hair.

"Everyone!" Katara announces, "Ruby has something she'd like to say!"

The Aang and Toph both turn their heads, Sokka poking out from behind Appa with his sad excuse for a mustache only half-shaved.

"I wanted to say, that I want to help you" Ruby says after a pause. "I want to help you win this war however I can"

Aang smiles, and with an airbending boosted jump, gracefully lands infront of Ruby. He bows deeply "Thank you Ruby Rose"

"Welcome to Team Avatar" Toph says with a grin.

"You mean the Aang Gang! No, the Boomerang Squad! No! The Fearsome Foursome, wait, I mean Fivesome!" Sokka shouts.

"Cool it brother! We finally went with the best of your stupid group names we're not changing it now!" Katara shouts back.

"You know at Beacon, team names are a acronym of it's members's initials, usually sounding like a color." Ruby offers, trying to be helpful.

"Huh" Sokka replies, pondering for a moment "A, K, T, S, R. How about... Stark! Like Stark White!"

Ruby's eyes go wide with realization, and a wave of discomfort hits her. Her mother's team had been STRQ. "On second thought lets just sticm with Team Avatar" She chuckles nervously, barely managing to keep from getting upset.

"Alright, whatever" Sokka says, going back to his shaving.

"So Ruby" Aang says after a few moments. "You said you were a warrior right? How about a demonstration?"

Ruby's eyes glimmer with excitement.


	4. Chapter 4

Gunshots rang out through the cave as Ruby's scythe sliced, cracked, and shot through countless of Toph's earth mannequins. From the sidelines Aang and Katara stood in a stupor, while Sokka's eyes glimmered in fascination.

When Ruby had said she was a warrior, the rest of Team Avatar had no idea how true that was. They could fight, sure, but none of them had anywhere close to the combat training that Ruby did. Aang, Katara and Toph may have been masters of their respective elements, but the way Ruby moved and fought without any bending was, to be perfectly honest, a little scary. All Sokka could do was struggle to keep his jaw from hitting the floor and frantically take notes on her technique.

After a few minutes, Toph lets out a heavy breath and slumps down, constructing and controlling that many dummies had gotten to her "Alright Ruby, I think thats enough for now" Aang says with a huge grin on his face.

While Katara checks on Toph, Aang and Sokka run over to Ruby. While Sokka inspects her weapon, Aang begins to ask the multitude of questions he had. Chuckling nervously, Ruby does her best to answer and explain what she could.

"So it's like a compact cannon?" Sokka asks "What does it use to launch those things?"

"Its called a Rifle, and the things it shoots are called bullets. They're filled with gunpowder, which when sparked, launches the bullet out of its casing and down the barrel" Ruby explains "The bullets can also have dust loaded in them, but these were just standard rounds."

"How exactly did you learn to use this thing?" Aang asks. He knew she had been to a warrior school, but that seemed like it wasn't enough to account for her mastery of this marvel of engineering.

"Well I built it of course" Ruby says "My uncle Qrow uses a scythe too, so when it came time to build my weapon, I modeled it after his. Then I spent 3 years at Signal Academy training with it, and then got moved up to Beacon where I continued to train, this time with my team."

"You're telling me you MADE that thing?" Sokka asks incredulously

"Of course. All huntsman and huntresses make their own weapons. They're an extension of ourselves, they're a part of us!" Ruby replies excitedly.

"That's amazing" Sokka says breathlessly.

After a few moments of silence, Aang opens his mouth "Um, Ruby, you know you can't shoot that at anyone though, right?" He asks.

"Well I mean duh, you guys don't have aura. But you're in luck, I can just use dust rounds. No actual bullet, just the small fust crystal gets launched." Ruby states with a smile "I'll need to conserve ammo though anyway."

Aang smiled, he certainly hadn't wanted an argument with the girl, and avoiding it was a pleasant surprise.

"So then" Katara pipes up "Onto daily business?"

"Onto daily business" Aang agrees

"We need to go shopping, we're low on food and supplies. Other than that, we need to get Ruby acclimated to our world" Katara lists.

"And I need to get ready for school!" Aang says excitedly

"Seriously? You're going back to the school? You're going to get caught!" Sokka replies worriedly, valuing their cover above all else.

"Don't worry Sokka, I'll keep a low profile this time. I promise" Aang

With a groan, Sokka finally relents, and Aang runs off to go get changed.

"What do you say Ruby? Want to go into town with the three of us?" Katara asks.

"Two" Toph corrects "I'm gonna stay put, keep watch."

"Fair enough" Katara says "Ruby?"

"Sounds great!" Ruby answers cheerily, folding up her scythe with a spin and stowing it on her back, safely hidden behind her cloak.

"Alright then, lets head out" Sokka says

Ruby smiles, finally starting to feel a little in control of herself again. She was over the shock of this world, and could settle down, if only a little. She looked around, these people relied on each other, and she knew she could too.

The three leave the beachside cave, taking a moment to appreciate the view before starting up the path they had found through the woods up to the town nearby. As they make their way into the town, Ruby sticks close to the Water Tribe siblings. She still didn't fully understand this world and its customs, so she figured that following their example was probably her best bet.

Katara gives Ruby a small smile as they walk "How do you feel?" She asks.

"A little freaked out still, but I'm doing better" Ruby answers honestly. These last few hours HAD been very stressful and confusing for the huntress in training. Ruby takes a deep breath and smiles to Katara "But hey, I'm alright"

"Good" Katara answers with a smile. "So tell me more about your friends. From the little you said about them last night, I can tell they must be pretty amazing"

"My partner's name is Weiss, her family is like, mondo rich, but she's not snobby or anything. Well, maybe a little bit, but she's actually really awesome once you get past her shell. She's incredibly strong and determined, and while she doesn't always want to say it, an amazing friend. Then there's Blake. She doesn't like to talk about her past, but she's been through a lot and it's only made her stronger. She's always fighting for what she thinks is right, and isn't afraid to be the only one doing it. And then there's Yang. She's my sister, and probably the bravest person I know. She'll jump into any fight no matter what, as nd you can always count on her to be there when you need her. Then there's team JNPR, and Penny, and Velvet, and Sun and Neptune, they're all amazing people" Ruby explains, though her voice begins to drop "I hope I get to see them all again." She adds quietly.

"I'm sure you will Ruby" Katara says "Don't worry, we'll find out how you got here, and we'll get you back home."


End file.
